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2 Samuel 13 of 24

2 Samuel 13

The sword Nathan promised would not depart from David's house enters through the door of his own family.

Summary

Amnon, David's eldest son, loves Tamar, daughter of David and full sister of Absalom, but being a virgin she is inaccessible to him. He falls sick from longing. His cousin Jonadab, a very shrewd man, asks what troubles him and devises the scheme: Amnon should feign illness and ask David to send Tamar to make cakes in his sight. Amnon does so. Tamar comes, makes cakes, and when she brings them in to his bedchamber he sends all servants out and takes hold of her. She refuses: do not this folly in Israel; do not thou this vile thing; where would she carry her shame? He will not hearken; being stronger, he forces her and lies with her. Then, immediately, Amnon hates her with great hatred; the hatred he now has is greater than the love he had. He says: get up and get out. She says: there is no cause; to send her away would be a greater wrong than what he has done. He calls his servant, has him put her out, and bolts the door.

Tamar takes ashes on her head, tears her long-sleeved garment, puts her hand on her head, and goes away crying. She comes to the house of Absalom her brother and dwells there, desolate. King David hears all and is very wroth but will not grieve or chasten Amnon because he loves him, for he is his firstborn. Absalom speaks to Amnon neither good nor bad, but hates him for the dishonour of Tamar. After two full years Absalom has a sheep-shearing at Baal-hazor near Ephraim. He invites all the king's sons and the king himself; David excuses himself but asks his blessing. Absalom requests that Amnon come; David asks why; Absalom presses. At the feast, when Amnon is merry with wine, Absalom's servants strike him down. All the other king's sons flee on their mules. A rumour reaches David that all his sons are dead; Jonadab corrects him — only Amnon, and by Absalom's hand. Absalom flees to Geshur. David mourns for his son every day.

Appears
David Absalom
Themes
Sexual Violence Familial Catastrophe David's Failure to Act
All 24 chapters — click to jump
  1. 2 Samuel 1Chapter 1 is the hinge between 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel.
  2. 2 Samuel 2Chapter 2 opens the period of civil war that will occupy much of the first half of the book.
  3. 2 Samuel 3Chapter 3 is one of the most politically complex chapters in the book.
  4. 2 Samuel 4Chapter 4 closes the civil war with a brief, ugly episode.
  5. 2 Samuel 5Chapter 5 is the pivotal chapter of the book's first half.
  6. 2 Samuel 6Chapter 6 is one of the most dramatically charged chapters in 2 Samuel, covering two episodes that frame the ark's arrival in Jerusalem.
  7. 2 Samuel 7Chapter 7 is the theological centre of the entire David narrative and one of the most consequential passages in the Hebrew Bible for later Jewish and Christian thought.
  8. 2 Samuel 8Chapter 8 reads differently from everything around it.
  9. 2 Samuel 9Chapter 9 is the chapter the Court History uses to establish one key dimension of David's character before the crisis arrives.
  10. 2 Samuel 10Chapter 10 establishes the military context of the Bathsheba episode.
  11. 2 Samuel 11Chapter 11 is the turning point of 2 Samuel and one of the most consequential chapters in biblical narrative.
  12. 2 Samuel 12Chapter 12 contains the most famous confrontation in the book.
  13. 2 Samuel 13Chapter 13 is the first fulfilment of Nathan's sentence in chapter 12.
  14. 2 Samuel 14Chapter 14 covers the three years in which David longs for Absalom but will not recall him, and Joab's intervention to change that.
  15. 2 Samuel 15Chapter 15 is the emotional nadir of the first movement of the Absalom crisis.
  16. 2 Samuel 16Chapter 16 covers three encounters as David makes his way out of Jerusalem.
  17. 2 Samuel 17Chapter 17 is the intelligence chapter of the Absalom revolt and turns on a moment of competitive counsel.
  18. 2 Samuel 18Chapter 18 is the emotional climax of 2 Samuel.
  19. 2 Samuel 19Chapter 19 covers David's return to Jerusalem and the political settlements it requires.
  20. 2 Samuel 20Chapter 20 is the coda to the Absalom crisis.
  21. 2 Samuel 21Chapter 21 opens the appendix section of 2 Samuel — chapters 21-24 are not chronological narrative but supplementary materials: two episodes of famine and plague bracketing two poems and two hero lists.
  22. 2 Samuel 22Chapter 22 is an extended psalm, found also as Psalm 18 in the Psalter, which the editors of 2 Samuel have placed near the end of the book as David's retrospective meditation on his life.
  23. 2 Samuel 23Chapter 23 contains two distinct sections.
  24. 2 Samuel 24Chapter 24 is the second appendix episode bracketing the poems of chapters 22-23, and it closes the book on an unexpected note.
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2 Samuel 12
Next · Chapter 14 →
2 Samuel 14
The book itself
Summary & story
What 2 Samuel is, why it matters.
Analysis
Themes
Power, consequence, grief, the dynastic promise, and the realism of the prose.
Who's who
David's court
The household of a king who has everything and gives most of it away.

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